Chapter Eighteen
I stood in front of the standing mirror in the bedroom I shared with my husband.
Hades had generously, and when I say generously, I mean with a lot of grumbling and whining, donated one of his military uniforms to me. Thick heavy stitched with threads made from hydra and drakon parts making it mostly indestructible, went from my ankles to my wrists, with a high neck collar and a bit of extra metal padding around the torso area. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, only sleek and not as bulky as something out of Star Wars.
I reached up and tied my hair back partially from my face, then dropped my arms down to my sides. My holster was fully loaded with knives and a weird gun that tapped into my magic and made it easier to channel and aim. Hades called it his MAX-M6 model.
Downstairs, I could hear Simon and Rowan moving around as they prepared for the invasion of Viviana's realm. They'd also been lent suits by Hades, all black with a white empty circle on the arms to signify we weren't part of any specific military, Hades nor Hell.
I went to Alaric's nightstand, picking up a pack of cigarettes he'd left there. I turned the small plastic container over in my hand, then flipped the top up to reveal the neat little rows of white rolls.
I told him to stop smoking. I hated the smell of it. Hated the way I could taste it in his mouth when we kissed. I also wasn't a fan of him putting the ash trays through the damn dishwasher to keep them clean, otherwise, I'd bitch at him for days about the stench of the ashes being left behind.
I wish he'd stop smoking. But he only did it now when he was stressed. And judging from that ashtray by the bed that looked like a cigarette butt cemetery, he was really stressed lately. That was probably my fault. I wasn't easy to deal with. I wasn't gonna lie, say I was a perfect person. I did stupid shit, got angry about stupid shit.
"You ready to head out and meet with the others?" I looked up to see Rowan standing in the doorway. I frowned, shutting the cigarette box and stuffing it in my pocket.
"Are you ready?" I asked. Rowan had been really big on getting me to reunite with Xiphrus and patch shit up, but I'd noticed that Rowan always sidestepped Xiphrus or treated him more like a janitor than a father. Not that I was much better, but at least I recognized the guy's presence.
"Always," Rowan answered, making me raise an eyebrow, and he looked at me calmly, "Stanton, I'm not here because I want some happy family reunion where we all hug and shake hands and have some beers around the pool. I'm here because you need me. And when you don't need me, I'll go back to doing what I did before."
"Which was...?" I asked. Rowan stared at me blankly. I sighed.
"Ro, all these years I thought I was alone. Then Xiphrus shows up out of nowhere and wants to patch things up, and I'm not really big on a family reunion either, but you're my brother. We have way more in common than Xiphrus and I do. And also, I hate you less. Is it too much to ask for a little background on you? What were you doing all those years? You mentioned you had experience with dealing with beasts. What did that mean? You don't have one yourself, do you?" I asked. Rowan studied me for the longest time. I prepared for one of his infamous blockades, telling me I should shave before I head out or wear warm socks.
Instead, he surprised me by actually answering me.
"I don't want you to get attached to me, Stanton," Rowan replied, making me frown, "If something happens to me, and you're left to deal with it, I know you won't take it well. You didn't take the deaths of our other siblings well. You didn't take Xiphrus's betrayal well. You get attached to things so easily and you break to pieces when it's taken away. I don't want you to fall apart if I die." I frowned. I wanted to argue that, but he did have a point. I hated myself for that; for that emotional build up inside me that I couldn't control. I hated emotions in general. It made it too hard to focus on the cold hard logic of things, and I liked to pretend I could be logical, but in the end, my feelings got in the way.
At the same time, I wanted good memories to have of Rowan, if something happened. I didn't think anything would happen to him, aside from the fact that he was leaving me after we got Alaric back. But I wanted to have at least one memory from those days, one person, that didn't make me feel like absolute shit. So I fell back on Alaric's favorite saying, whenever we talked about the fact that he'd lost his memories.
"Better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all," I answered. Rowan stared at me for the longest time. He seemed surprised I used the word loved, and maybe that wasn't how I felt about Rowan right now. We didn't know each other well enough, but that didn't change the fact that he was my brother. He was my blood.
"I don't have a beast," Rowan said at last, making me hold my breath, because I felt like even the slightest sound would make him skittish about sharing, "But I knew someone who did."
"The person who told you it was best to have talks in church," I said, and Rowan inclined his head, "Was this person... Were you two close?" And for the first time, I saw raw agony in Rowan's eyes. It cut me to the quick and now I couldn't breath for a different reason.
"He was my everything," Rowan answered, and even though he was trying to keep his voice steady, there was pain lancing his words, making them waver ever so slightly.
"What was his name?" I asked quietly. Rowan blinked a little, like remembering was incredibly painful for him.
"Petros," he dropped his eyes, licking at his upper lip and trying to find his calm again.
"How long?" I asked, referring to how long he'd been without Petros.
"One hundred years, six months, two days, and I'd have to look at a watch to see how many hours and minutes have passed," Rowan answered automatically. I grimaced. Shit. He wasn't just counting down years here, he was all the way down to days, almost hours and minutes. For a brief moment, that terrified me. The idea of being without Alaric. The idea of still being absolutely miserable about it even a century later. Enough to cave into darkness, to reject anyone else coming near you.
Fuck.
"I'm sorry," I said at last. Rowan shook his head, clearing his throat again and looking up at me.
"Beasts aren't the real monsters in the world, Stanton," he said, making me frown, "They're creatures just like you and me. They live and they breath, they think and they feel. Maybe not like we do. But that is no reason to treat them as monsters. They should be understood. And so should their hosts... Petros didn't die because of his beast. He died because no one wanted to understand the beast inside him, not like he did, not like I did." I didn't answer. I wasn't sure what to say to that. But it's not like we had time to discuss it, because Simon poked his head in the room behind Rowan.
"Yo, we gotta head out. Time to kick ass, take names, and also wonder if we'll be welcomed back home or not," Simon said with a heavy sigh. I frowned at that, looking between him and Rowan, who seemed to quickly recover from his near emotional breakdown.
"That's right," I said, "Will you guys be able to go back to Viviana?" Rowan shook his head.
"Probably not. Once she realizes where our alliances lie, we won't be welcomed back."
"Shit," I muttered, "I'm sorry. I know you guys were tight..."
"Don't apologize," Simon said, "Viv gave us a home, but it wasn't a real home. It was a place we stayed because there was nowhere else to go. Home is where your family is."
"And where's that for you?" I asked. Simon shrugged, then looked at Rowan, who was staring at the floor before he blinked and looked up, then scowled.
"What? You think you're living with me?"
"If you want three meals a day, you'll want me there."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Nope, just reminding you that without me, you'd probably starve to death, brother. And I've kinda grown to like you in a platonic sorta way. Not in the way you guys seem to be all up on each other," he said, and when Rowan and I scowled at him, Simon smiled, "What? You think you can make out on the front porch and nobody would see it?" I flushed and Rowan turned a light shade of pink. He snatched at the front of Simon's suit and jerked him close, getting in his face.
"Breath a word of that to anyone and I will not only not let you live in my home, but I will feast on the remains of your corpse."
"Oh, Ro, you treat me so nice," Simon crooned. Rowan shoved him away, then turned to look at me. I nodded at his silent askance. Together, we left the house, locking up and setting the alarms. We headed down the walkway, and I noticed that a couple houses down, Jaclyn was standing on her porch, staring at us with her mouth open and a cup of tea in her hands. I gave her a friendly wave and she just ducked back into her house like the devil was chasing her.
"A friend?" Simon asked.
"Oh yeah. We're really tight. Braid each other's hair and shit."
"Why is everyone around me gay as fuck?"
"Why is everyone around me straight as fuck?"
"Why is everyone around me dumb as fuck?" Rowan asked aloud. Simon and I looked at him, but he kept walking ahead of us. We ended up at the military base in Portius no more than a few minutes later. Portius was just on the other side of the subdivision we lived in. A small military town filled with bars, nice restaurants, family housing, apartments, and military barracks, all of this surrounding the main entrance to Hell and the military base.
We entered the base with prior clearance and made our way to the briefing room Hades had told us to meet in. Meanwhile, he'd gone off to inform Lucifer after drawing the short straw for what was probably the billionth time in his life. We walked into the briefing room to find it packed with people, all of whom I recognized considering they were part of Alaric's family.
Dania was locked and loaded, decked out in a camouflage stitch suit that appeared to come custom made by Hades. At her side, her sisters, Bali and Wednesday, were dressed in matching black and white suits, hair tied back the same, so that it was almost impossible to tell them apart. Raven had joined the group as well, his hands on his hips, his black curly hair growing a bit longer these days when he and Dev decided they were going to grow their hair out and donate it. Also joining them as the big brother, Jaques, dressed in a Hellion military suit with his black hair slicked back and, as usual, chiding his siblings for being wild maniacs.
Also joining the Lucifer clan was some of Hades's kids. Cerberus, the monstrously huge artificial with a wicked sense of humor and smirk to go with it, wearing one of his father's uniforms. At his side was his second-in-command, Leon, an African deity dressed in a Hades uniform and showing something to Cerberus via his phone. Cain and Abel were also on deck, dressed in similar uniforms, but thankfully it was easy to tell those two apart given that Abel was just a couple inches taller and his hair was dyed navy blue as opposed to Cain maintaining their natural chocolate brown.
And who could forget Akin? Alaric was his brother too. He'd come in from Atlantis. And at his side was Hannibal, because Akin couldn't go anywhere without his precious pet. And of course, Hannibal wasn't legally allowed to go anywhere without his personal guard, who, after Xiphrus ran off to Heaven, was Tristan. A nasty fae with a shitty attitude. One look at him and you would not think fae. Nothing about the guy was flowers and nature and love. Nope. He looked like a prison inmate arrested on charges of multiple murder, rape, and possible terrorist connections.
Xiphrus and Michael were already there when we walked in, and I went straight to them.
"You don't have to be here," Xiphrus was telling him gently, but Michael cut him a glare.
"I absolutely must. Those little terrors ruined my house. I want to put some heads through windows and fry shadow remains," he responded in a huff. Xiphrus sighed, then looked up as we approached. Simon grimaced as he rubbed at his stomach.
"I dunno. Fried shadow sounds like it tastes like charcoal," he said. Michael gave him an amused look.
"Lots of people here," I said to Xiphrus, who nodded.
"They insisted on going along," he responded.
"Thorn would've been here too," Raven said, approaching us with Jaques at his side, "But Ambrosius threatened to rip his balls off if he ditched him while he's pregnant. You thought Ambro was feisty before? Now he's straight up evil since he's gotten pregnant."
"Funny, same thing happened with Naia and I," Jaques muttered, rubbing at the stubble on his jaw. He shot me a dirty look afterwards, and it was no surprise. Jaques was the type of annoying overprotective older brother that could easily drive any of his siblings' lovers away just by that look, but I was used to dealing with worse than Jaques, so I just gave him a smile.
"How is Ambrosius, by the way?" Xiphrus asked.
"Hormonal," Raven deadpanned, folding his arms over his chest, "He's also called, and I quote, a fae baby consultant. It's a fae who deals with pregnant males on their first time. He's trying to zen Ambro out, but I swear, not even a horse tranquilizer could zen Ambro out. I get why Thorn would rather risk certain death than put up with his husband for another day."
"He's not that bad," Jaques replied drolly, "At least he didn't bite Thorn's head off for not putting down the toilet seat. I forgot once when Naia was pregnant and I still hear about it today."
"That's because it's gross," Dania said, flouncing over, pausing to give everyone a hug, and surprisingly, she hugged me too and lingered there to hold me before stepping back, "Don't worry, Stanton, we're gonna get your hubs and my bro back. For sure." I was strangely comforted by that.
"Thanks," I murmured. She smiled, then turned to thump Jaques in the chest and he grunted, clutching at his chest.
"And you! I saw you giving dirty looks over here! Grow a pair, Jaq! People fuck up. You think your relationship with Naia was smooth rolling? I still remember when she threw you out for two weeks before you got married." Jaques glared at her.
"Yes, but that was for something entirely different. Stanton lost Alaric. We wouldn't be in this mess if he'd done as he'd promised in his vows," he answered, then shot me another award-winning dirty look, "To protect and to serve. It's not that fucking hard." I glared back at him, taking a step forward with the intention to suckerpunch his face in, but Rowan got in front of me and shook his head.
"Don't, Stanton. He is of little importance right now," he warned me.
"Bullshit," Jaques drawled angrily, "Alaric is first and foremost my baby brother. Ever since he got together with you, his life has been utter shit. If it wasn't for you, he never would've lost his memory and--"
"That wasn't my fault," I exclaimed incredulously, "Alaric wanted to go to Hades!"
"And you should've stopped him!"
"I'm his husband, not his brain! I don't control him anymore than you do, asshole!"
"You have a certain degree of control in every relationship and you didn't bother to exercise that because you were too busy being a perverted freak of nature--"
"Oh, I'm the perverted freak of nature?!"
"Who makes their husband wear women's underwear?"
"For your information, Alaric's the one who chose to continue that, not me! And why the hell do you care what your brother wears under his clothes anyway, you fucking perv? Isn't he your baby brother?"
Rowan got in front of me again when I went to punch Jaques, and Dania leapt in Jaques's path while Raven, Wednesday, and Bali latched onto his arms to drag him back before he could leap over Rowan and jump me.
"Hey," Akin said angrily, coming over to shove Jaques, actually making the big guy stumble, "Fuck off, Jaq. Stanton's a great husband. You're just pissed he took your baby brother from you. And for the record, he and Alaric can do whatever the fuck they want. It's their relationship, not yours. So shove off." Jaques glared at him.
"Akin--"
"You heard me. Go cool down before I drop kick your ass off this mission. Think I won't?" He tacked on as a challenge, and got all up in Jaques's business to try and intimidate him. And while it probably would've worked enough to get Jaques to back down, having Hannibal stand behind Akin with his arms folded over his chest and his legs apart, taking on this stance of you better fuck off, asshole, was a great help. Jaques shrugged his siblings off him and stalked off. Bali and Wednesday went with Raven to help him cool off.
"Jeez," Akin muttered, "I swear Jaques just gets crankier in his old age."
"Aren't you just a few years younger than him?" Dania asked. Akin stared at her.
"Are you calling me old?"
"Who? You? Never. You're forever 21, Akin. Inside and out," Dania teased. Akin smirked at her, then looked at me. Even though he'd come to my defense, something told me he wasn't entirely pleased that Alaric had been taken on my watch either.
"Welcome to the family," Akin said after a moment.
"No, thanks," I deadpanned, "You're all crazy. I have enough crazy on this side of the family without you guys adding to it." Akin snorted, but he didn't argue. He instead went to greet Michael, which was probably good for the archangel. Akin and Michael shared this level of OCD that no one else could understand and it seemed Michael needed to vent about the destruction that was now his life. Or rather, his house, but then the way he bitched about that place, it was his life.
The doors to the room opened a while later, however, to admit Hades and Lucifer. Neither of them looked pleased. Lucifer looked like he was about ready to rip the head off every single person in the room. His blonde hair was yanked back into a ponytail, and he was decked out in his Hellion uniform designed specially by Hades to withstand pretty much everything. It was apparently two times stronger than the other uniforms. Apparently that was Hades's way of saying I love you.
Speaking of Hades, I'd never seen the Greek look so constipated as he did in that moment coming in with Lucifer. He'd braided his hair so it was out of his fae, but it lay over his shoulder, and he wore one of his high tech unis with boots that thundered on the floor when he walked. He practically dwarfed almost everyone in the room.
"Alright," Lucifer announced, "Time to get to business. My son's out there and if I don't have blood soon, I'm taking it out of someone else's hide." I didn't miss the way his eyes went over me, like he was telling me I would be the victim of his assault. Not that I blamed him. I was kicking myself enough as it was without his help.
Besides, he'd be doing the shape shifter a favor.
In fact, that should've been their plan all along. Kidnap Alaric, tell Lucifer, and there ya go.
Dead.
"Here's the information we have so far," Joxeia said, walking into the room with Zeus tagging along behind him, both of them dressed for battle as well. He placed several books out on the table, two of which were books I'd taken from Viv's place and were written in the old language, and got a whole lotta what the fuck from everyone that gathered around.
"It's not exactly a prophecy that we need to worry about," he began, "A prophecy can happen anytime. It requires not only events, but persons. This Wheel of Twelve is also called the Wheel of Rebirth, because it signals the rebirth of the universe. The universe collapses and becomes anew."
"That's kinda creepy," Dania muttered.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing," Joxeia replied, "Everything has to end at some point, but that's how the universe is supposed to work. There was a universe before ours as well, perhaps billions more before that. It's a cycle. All things come in cycles. And we are nowhere near the end of ours. Or at least, we're not supposed to be. Unfortunately, the shapeshifter is triggering the events to come rapidly all at once. They're supposed to come in pieces, separated by lengths of time. These next ones aren't supposed to happen for years and years. By accelerating the events, the shapeshifter has probably caused unbalance. It could not only destroy the universe, but it would destroy it permanently. No more rebirth. No more universes after this one. All things in existence could cease."
"Shit," Raven cursed, leaning over to look at the books on the table. Joxeia nodded as if he couldn't agree more.
"And while we were apart just now, I came across something else," he said, brushing his hand over one of the books, "The shapeshifter was foretold. It is the collective darkness, not just of Atlan, but of other creatures before it. The shapeshifter is every dark creature who has existed in the universes."
"Wait, like all the bad guys ever are balled up into one big bad dude?" Simon asked.
"Basically," Joxeia said, "Although, the creature, like most shapeshifters, is not male or female, or any gender we wish to place upon it. It is simply that; an it. It is a manifestation of darkness. It appears whenever there is too much of an overload of darkness in one area."
"The shadows," Rowan muttered.
"Exactly," Joxeia said grimly, "All those shadows, all those darkened souls in one area, are just feeding this shapeshifter. It sounds like Viviana disguised her intentions of providing hope by collapsing into the darkness, using the shadows as a powerhouse for this shapeshifter. And that thing is fat with the darkness and misery around it. It's why it's so powerful, why Xiphrus and I even have trouble dealing with it, seeing it. It's why Hades can't read its mind. This creature is jacked up on power and will continue to do so, as long as there are shadows around it. As long as there is darkness and misery and woe gathered around it."
"So what? Are you saying we need to blow up the realm?" I asked. Joxeia shook his head.
"That could cause some trouble. You can't just unplug the shapeshifter from its power source. It needs to be a slow removal. You can kill the shadows off bit by bit, or convert them. Now--"
"Convert them," Jaques scoffed, "To hell with that. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for these beasts?"
"I'm inclined to agree," Lucifer muttered. I frowned, glancing at Simon and Rowan, who said nothing about the fact that they were shadows. They didn't even defend themselves. No one knew that the only reason these shadows fell into the darkness was the fact that they were abandoned, scarred by trauma. Simon's family was killed off. His fiance was brutally murdered. He was alone in the world. And clearly the same thing had happened to Rowan; he lost the love of his life. He was alone.
They didn't turn evil or some bullshit like that.
And a strange heavy weight dropped in my stomach as I realized how goddamn hypocritical I was.
I shat all over Xiphrus. Treated him like absolute garbage. Because I was angry. I was so focused on my own personal rage that I didn't stop to think how the whole thing affected Xiphrus. I didn't want to think about that. What about me?
Yeah, well, what about Xiphrus?
If I looked at it from his point of view, Xiphrus had dealt with a lot of bullshit himself. The guy he uprooted his whole life for turned out to be a total scumbag. He came back and everything he knew and understood was gone. The guy still had no idea how to use social media. He kept sharing ads and photos of rabbits from some weird website. To top it off, the only two sons he had in the universe wanted nothing to do with him.
No wonder Xiphrus had become infected. His life was total shit.
So was Rowan's and so was Simon's.
And so was mine, until I realized that Alaric was my life. Without him, I was nothing, but darkness.
So it wasn't fair for us to hop on this bandwagon of kill the shadows. What the hell was that even going to do? Sure, it'd drop some of the power on the shapeshifter, but what better way to stick it to this thing than proving we living creatures were stronger than this creep?
"We shouldn't kill right off the bat," I said, making everyone look at me like I'd grown a second head on my shoulders, "I'm not saying don't kill to defend. If someone's comin' at you with a dagger, kick the shit out of them, but I'm talking about this whole ordeal. There's no way we're gonna be able to take this shifter down on this rescue mission. That part of it is gonna be a process, and we can totally talk about it when we get back, but I just want you to know where I stand on this."
"You're fucking kidding me," Jaques deadpanned, "You're Death and you're skittish about killing people?"
"You're a son of Lucifer and you're stupid? Because last I checked, being Death and killing are not the same thing. I have to deal with the fucking mess people like you leave behind. I have to watch my reapers go fucking insane over time because people like you have an itchy trigger finger. Before you jump on kill-everything-and-fuck-the-rest, think about the consequences of what you're doing. I'm tired of having my reapers suffer because you're a trigger happy fuckwad."
"You--"
"Enough," Lucifer barked, slamming his hand down on the table and everyone fell silent, staring at him, even Hades looked a little startled by the outburst, "Fine. We'll do what we have to for now. I don't care. I want my son back. Right now!"
"And that's the part I'm getting to," Joxeia promised, turning back to the books, "Viviana's realm isn't one we haven't seen before. It's actually the original ice realm, Niflheim's predecessor. We called it Draklisen."
"Realm of dark and ice?" I asked dryly. Joxeia gave me a droll look.
"Let's just say not all of us were creative back in the day. Anyway, this realm is old. Really old. It's also been abandoned for centuries. A few castles were built back in the early years of humanity by wandering gods, but no one ever stayed. The realm has no daytime and it's covered in snow and ice."
"How does it have no daytime if there are plants there?" I asked, referring to the forests Xiphrus and I had trekked through during our time there.
"The same way we can teleport," Joxeia responded, and I scowled in confusion, "Magic. The ground in the realm there can sustain certain plants, such as the Mimri plants. They're plants that mimic other plants. That same magic can also create the illusion of passed time when sometimes no time has passed at all, or so much time has passed that the person has aged."
"Well, that's fucking fantastic," Hades muttered.
"Draklisen isn't very large, though," Joxeia continued, and opened up a page from one of the books that folded out into a massive map for all to see, "Perhaps no larger than an island. It's the magic screwing with the time that makes it seem bigger than it really is. This map shows at least three of the castles, but Stanton's told us there's at least seven of them. We'll hit the first three castles on this map, then split into teams to strike the other ones. Somehow, I'm convinced Viviana and the shifter won't hold Alaric at the main castle."
"No way," Rowan responded automatically, "She never shits where she eats, but only four of the castles have storage for prisoners and only two of them are on the map. So at least we know two of the places she'd hold him."
"And the third?" Joxeia asked.
"Castle Vira," Simon said, and everyone looked at him, "What? You think I'm just a grunt worker? I knew some things. Like what happened when you didn't come back from running errands."
"Is that where you were those past two months?" Rowan asked. Simon shrugged.
"Gotta pay the time for the crime, my man," he replied, then looked at Joxeia, "Castle Vira isn't on the map, but I can definitely show you guys where it's at. It's about three klicks north of the main castle." Joxeia nodded.
"Then we'll add it to the map," he said, whipping out a pen and leaning over to make a mark where Simon was pointing. The moment they were done, Hades leaned in and snapped a photo before he sent it to everyone's various phones.
"Hey! You're a crazy bitch! But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it!"
Everyone looked at Cain, who quickly took his phone out and checked his texts before tucking it back in his pocket. He glared at us and Abel rolled his eyes while Cerberus shook his head.
"Anyway," Hades drawled, giving Cain one last look that promised him a lecture before his attention was back on the group as a whole, "Sent the map to all your phones. You should be able to bring it up if you get lost when we split."
"So how are we going to do this?" Leon asked, stepping forward.
"We can't sneak in," Rowan admitted grimly, "Viviana will know when we show up. Not to mention, there are shadows patrolling everywhere and I hate to break it to you, but there's no way you can sense them in time to avoid them. No matter who you are."
"Damn," Hades muttered, folding his arms over his chest, "I was really looking forward to humming the Mission Impossible theme song."
"Only if you want to get killed," Rowan answered dryly. Hades shrugged.
"So what should we do then? We're going into a battle where they know we're coming. And then there's the fact that we have to keep Stanton safe," Xiphrus pointed out, making several people frown, "The next prophecy on the list is to separate Death from Life. The shifter seems convinced that killing Stanton is the way to accomplish that."
"I second that," Michael said, and I frowned slowly as I knew where this was headed, "I think, in order to keep at least one thing on our side, we should keep Stanton here. The rest of us can retrieve Alaric."
"Over my dead body," I started.
"It will be if you get killed."
"Okay, I know what I said earlier, that I'm Death and I'm not all about killing, but when shit needs killin', I'm pretty fucking great at it."
"Yes, but up against those shadow things? You didn't do so well against the ones that attacked Heaven. The only reason you survived that was because Xiphrus and his beast showed up."
"Are you seriously trying to fucking bench me when my husband is out there? Like hell! I'm coming with, so end of discussion there! Let's get back to the important shit, like saving Alaric," I snapped. Xiphrus looked distressed by the idea and Michael was frowning before he looked over at Joxeia, who also seemed tempted to leave me behind. I glared at him.
"You were fully prepared to hunt Atlan down to get Zeus back, knowing full well Atlan would've pinned you to a wall and fucked you straight up. You don't dare leave me behind on this job to save Alaric," I warned. It was dirty bringing that shit up, especially in front of everyone, and it made Joxeia stiffen for a second. Zeus's upper lip peeled back off his fangs, clearly prepared to throw the mission out the window and kill me himself.
"Fine," Hades said, breaking through the tension, making Xiphrus and Joxeia look at him, "But you're on a team with me, Jo, Zeus, Xiph, Lucifer, and Michael. You don't go anywhere without us there, got it?" I glared at him.
"Don't need a babysitter."
"Don't need your sass."
"Oh, please. It's your fucking life blood."
"God, it's like trying to tame a bunch of ADD toddlers," Cerberus growled, making Leon nod in understanding beside him. He and Leon both had a set of toddlers bent on world domination with cute puppy eyes and temper tantrums. And gods, that felt like a spear going through my chest, because I briefly wondered what kind of parent Alaric would be... A good one. Yeah, definitely a great dad. No, more like a daddy. I could see him getting teary eyed over being called daddy. He already gushed over being called "unky" by his nieces and nephews.
"Okay, now that we've got teams sorted out," Joxeia said as we tuned back in, and it sounds like no one was going to budge on me going, so thank fuck for that, "We'll focus on the task at hand. We're going to hit four of these castles. We know of three right now. If we come up empty, we contact each other immediately and see if we've come across any information about the fourth castle with a prisoner. This has to be fast. No doubt the shifter will find out about our entry and gun for Alaric to get him out of Stanton's hands, if for nothing more than to spite him for failing to kill him. At the same time, it'll be trying to kill Stanton too, so keep an eye out for any traps or tricks. Right now, we're in kill mode. If you think anyone may have information on Alaric, bag him, beat him, get information. Don't care how you do it. Mind reading, good ol' fashioned ass whooping, doesn't matter. The goal of the mission is to save Alaric. Any questions?"
No one spoke. Joxeia gave his nod of approval before he turned to Rowan.
"Then take us to Draklisen."
Rowan nodded. Together, we teleported from the briefing room in Hell to Viviana's realm. Like last time, the ride was wicked crazy. The world around us seemed to stretch and pull, warping into some kind of demented Doctor Who shit. Only there was no sound, nothing but the ringing silence in our ears, a second before we landed in Draklisen.
Around us, snow fell in gentle flakes from a sky that was ever dark, clouds thick and blocking out any chance of stars or moonlight. Around us, trees I thought were pine trees clustered together like fluffy beasts seeking warmth. Everything else was black and spindly in the night.
"Alright," Joxeia said, coming forward beside me, "Everyone has their locations pinpointed on their phones, right?"
"Thank god you sent that to my phone via text and not wifi," Cerberus growled as he shuddered in the cold, "Ain't no signal in this place."
"Viviana doesn't believe we need contact with the outside world," Simon answered, "Why get involved with the people who wanna fuck you up?" Cerberus paused to consider that and Leon frowned at him. Jaques just glared at him.
"I sent a schedule to all your phones just before we left," Hades announced, "Call times to check in with the other groups. If you miss a call-in, we're gonna converge on your location. So unless you want a huge fucking birthday party, keep an eye on the timers on your phones." Everyone nodded, and one by one, split off into their groups. I was stuck with the annoying parental unit brigade comprised of not only my blood sire, but his archangel special pain in the ass, plus Hades and Lucifer, and Joxeia and Zeus. Thankfully, Rowan was there to keep them all from wiping my ass and feeding me in a high chair.
"We're going to Castle Macabre," he said, looking down at his phone before looking up at us drolly, "What? I don't name these places."
"At least it's not named Fido," Zeus said dryly. I glared at him.
"It's a great name. At least I'm not named after a fucking frog."
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind that," Joxeia said, clearly trying to stifle a smile as he pushed ahead of us, "Let's get moving. We have a limited amount of time to move freely before the shadows converge on us. Stay close, keep your weapons out." We moved as a group through the snow toward the first castle on our list. I kept my gun in my hand, moving alongside Xiphrus on my right and Rowan on my left. Joxeia and Zeus took the lead and Hades and Lucifer took up the rear of our group. It was annoying to be caught in the middle of them all, but whatever helped them sleep at night. I was here for Alaric and nothing more.
The trek through the snow was fucking terrible. While the uniform Hades made kept the cold out from most of my body, it did nothing to protect my face. The vicious winter wind stung my cheeks and nose, and I had to conjure a black skullcap to protect my ears.
"Heads up," came Rowan's voice near me, "We're being followed." So much for a mostly peaceful trek to the castle. Our group kept moving, slowly, though, and we were changing course to shake our tails off our original route.
"Ready?" Xiphrus was the one to ask this. No one spoke, but you could feel it everyone around us. Tense, coiled, prepared to attack. And we did a second later.
The shadows came out first, screeching across the snow like those creepy ass worm things from Tremors. The snow flew up into the air and the black globs shot out at us. Someone shot right past Xiphrus and slashed me across the cheek. I cursed, ducking back and spinning around to throw my leg out. The shadow smashed into my leg and hit the snow at my feet. I threw my fist down into the guy's throat and he choked, gagging for breath. I took my chance and hoisted him up out of the snow and threw him over my head back into the snow again, knocking the breath out of him further.
"Stanton, look out!" The shout came from Lucifer and I spun around, having already felt a prickle up my spine to indicate someone was coming at me. I rammed my elbow back into a shadow's nose, effectively breaking it, feeling the cartilage give way beneath my elbow. I whipped out a dagger from my holster and spun with it, slicing the shadow's stomach open so hot innards came spilling out. The shadow slumped to its knees, grasping desperately at its insides, but that was a big mistake, because I swung my dagger back around and slit its throat so it went from grabbing at a pile of intestines to clutching its throat.
I spun back around as the other shadow bounced out of the snow and went for my stomach with a roundhouse kick. I blocked it and slashed at its throat, but it spun out of the way and caught my arm, twisting it sharply so I was forced to release the knife. He was preparing to break it, but I dragged him closer to me so I could wrap my arm around his neck to choke him. He flung me over his head, though, and slammed me down in the snow.
A second later, Rowan was there to grab the guy by a handful of hair, yanking his head back and slitting his throat. He didn't end with that either as he spun the dagger around in his hand then knifed the guy in the gut, cutting him from stomach to throat. He thrust the guy aside, then held his hand out to me as he wiped his knife off on his pants. Grimacing, I caught his palm and let him drag me to my feet.
"Thanks," I muttered. He nodded, then looked around as everyone else managed to tackle and destroy the shadows that had jumped them.
"We have only a few more minutes before reinforcements come, so let's hurry," he said. A collective nod was his answer and we hurried across the tundra toward the castle. It was a mound of shapes in the distance through the snow that began to come down harder, faster. It was similar to the main castle, big, gothic, medieval, a total Dracula vacation spot. We let Rowan take the lead at some point as we infiltrated the castle. Upon entry, more shadows were waiting to bombard us.
"Shit," Hades cursed as he shot a shadow in the face, then dropped his gun and swung his knee up to catch a shadow in the nose, "They reproduce like fucking ants."
"You don't recognize some of them," Rowan asked with a grunt, catching one guy around the waist and throwing him down to the ground before looking up at Hades, "A couple of these guys attacked us in the woods."
"You're fucking kidding me," Hades seethed, then caught a guy and flipped him up into the air and body slammed him into the ground.
"Shadows aren't easy to kill," Rowan muttered, "We're nearly invincible. Nearly." He looked over at Xiphrus, who grabbed two shadows and bashed their heads together so hard, their heads split open and blood splattered to the floor. Xiphrus picked one up and slammed him up against a wall while he let the other one drop so he could smash his heavy boot down on his head. He looked up to see us staring at him after we'd managed to subdue our attackers.
"What?" Xiphrus asked. Michael went over to him.
"I love you," Michael stated, clearly impressed with Xiphrus's skills. Xiphrus looked startled by the declaration. Rowan and I grimaced.
"Ew," I stated, turning away as Michael leaned in to kiss Xiphrus on the cheek.
"I don't know what I did," Xiphrus murmured, "But I'll do more of it if you please."
"I do want more," Michael returned.
"I'm gonna go get myself killed," I said, walking away from the group, "Rather die than see some angel flirt with my dad." No one said anything, so I scowled and turned to see them looking at me. Xiphrus looked like he'd won the lottery and Michael was smiling faintly with an arched brow, like he was amused as fuck. I had no idea what they were looking at me like that for, until I went back over what I'd said. Heat rushed to my cheeks and ears.
"Slip of the tongue, assholes. Jesus. Let's not get all fucking sappy right now. We're in the goddamn foyer of our enemy's house," I snapped, frustrated. Rowan smirked at me and I shoved at him, but he didn't seem to care. The rest of the group made equal expressions of oh you're so cute. Hades even reached over to pinch my cheek, but I smacked his hand off and moved up ahead of the group, muttering under my breath.
It was a slip of the tongue, honestly. I didn't think about it before I said. I mean, just because I didn't like the guy very much didn't mean he wasn't still my... dad. But fuck, they acted like I ran around calling Xiphrus my daddy. I wasn't a kid.
I just didn't like seeing some guy kissing all over my dad.
Ah, fuck. I am a kid.
I suddenly didn't see the shifter killing me as such a bad thing anymore.
We let Rowan lead at some point so he could take us to where the prisoners were kept. Of course, all six of the rooms were fucking empty. And calling the prisoner's quarters just "rooms" was an understatement. They were more like apartments. They were lavished with drapes and thick bedding, a galley kitchen, massive bathroom complete with jacuzzi, a separate room for guests with a small table and chairs. It was living the high life, honestly.
"You're sure this is where they keep prisoners?" Lucifer asked skeptically as he picked up a thick velvet drape between his fingers and rubbing it, like he was testing the material for validity. Rowan nodded, pausing to peer out the window to study the courtyard outside. I went to join him, but he snapped the curtains shut in my face and blocked my view, making me scowl.
"Shadows," Rowan told me and I relaxed as he looked at Lucifer, "Yes. Viviana believes in comfort and kindness towards everyone. Even prisoners."
"You get the royal treatment too?" Zeus asked, turning to look at me. I frowned.
"I didn't get this kinda place. She gave me the regular rooms, like her shadows," I responded.
"Because she was hoping you would come to our side," Rowan said, "When she became convinced you weren't going to join us, she decided to quit playing games. Hence why she tried to kill you in the foyer." I frowned. Well, that explains that. I failed her test.
We left the room and moved onto the last one, but it was empty too. Frustrated, I stepped out of the room and raked a hand through my hair while everyone stayed in the room, too busy talking about what to do next and making our check-in call for the hundredth time. According to the other groups, their castles were empty too. Which didn't make any sense. Weren't at least one of these supposed to have Alaric? If he wasn't here, where was he?
He wasn't dead, was he?
A spear of panic went through my chest and I swallowed compulsively, reaching up to rub at my chest as my heart started to hurt. The pain was spreading out to my neck and arms. I slammed my eyes shut, trying to reel in my calm. I'd been able to stay calm most of this time thanks to the weed Rowan had been giving me, but shit, I hadn't had some in a while and I was starting to lose the calm. I could feel the anxiety coming back in a steady trickle.
If Alaric wasn't in the castles, what did that mean? What if he was dead? What if the shifter killed him because that would kill me inside? What if that was what the event meant? What if it didn't depend on my death? What if--
The pain suddenly exploded in my chest and I choked. Blood rushed up my throat and spilled down the sides of my mouth and I blinked rapidly in confusion, looking down to see a blood soaked blade sticking out of my chest. The silver blade gleamed in the lights overhead, blood collecting in one spot and dripping off it, falling to the floor.
My legs went numb on me and I collapsed to my knees, trying to suck air into my lungs, but every breath I took filled my lungs with more blood. I choked, reaching up to the blade sticking out of my chest, wondering how the fuck it got there.
I looked up to see... Alaric?